Allentown's Phantoms arena ticketholders asked to pay up

Lehigh Valley Phantoms tell season ticketholders they will start charging their credit cards in January.

December 12, 2012|By Matt Assad, Of The Morning Call

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms won't drop the puck until October 2014, but the team is asking season ticketholders to begin dropping some serious cash soon.

Fresh off being invited to groundbreaking two weeks ago for Allentown's 8,500-seat hockey arena, 1,700 season ticketholders were notified Wednesday that the team would start tapping their credit cards Jan. 7.

It's not common for a team to start charging people 18 months before the first game, but after spending more than three decades waiting for hockey in Allentown, at least one ticketholder was happy.

"Wow, they're pushing things a little early, but you know what, I don't even mind," said Bob Baer, an Allentown man who's agreed to buy three seats. "Since I don't have any real hockey to watch right now, I'm pretty anxious to get into that new arena."

Construction crews at Seventh and Hamilton streets in downtown Allentown are building a $272 million arena complex that also includes a 180-room hotel and eight-story office building. It will be home to the Philadelphia Flyers' top affiliate, The Phantoms, beginning in 2014.

Because of a lockout, the Flyers and the rest of the National Hockey League have played no games this season.

Though demolition and foundation work has been under way since January, a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Allentown arena was held Nov. 29. Phantoms' season ticketholders were alerted by email that payments will start in January.

Fans had used credit cards to pay a $100 deposit toward each seat, which range from $410 to $1,020 per year for 42 home games. Season ticket contracts are three or five years.

The Phantoms will have full payments in hand six months before hockey is played.

Erik Hansen, Phantoms vice president of ticket sales, said starting to charge people 18 months before the first slapshot is not unusual but, in this case, will be a one-time thing. He said he always planned to begin charging season ticketholders next month. After litigation delayed the arena opening until 2014, he kept the original start date while extending the payment schedule.

"We've found that people really like the 15-month schedule because it makes their monthly payments smaller," Hansen said. "Personally, I'm a season ticketholder for other teams and I like the stretched-out payments, so I'm happy to offer it to our fans."

After this first year, the usual payment will be 10 months, running January through October — the same month of the first game each year.

Hansen said his office was inundated with phone calls and emails Wednesday, but most wanted to ask questions or change the credit card they would use for automatic withdrawals. No one canceled his tickets, Hansen said, and a few used the extended plan to upgrade their seats.

If everything works the way Hansen plans, those season ticketholders will be happy they ponied up early. Once the arena opens, Hansen said he believes there will be no single tickets to be had at the walk-up window on the night of the games.

"Don't count on being able to walk up and get a ticket," Hansen said.

Once Hansen sells a yet-to-be-determined number of season ticket packages, he'll open the rest of the seats to people who want mini-packages (perhaps 15 or 18 games), and to community groups such as schools, clubs and civic organizations.